The Ethical Architect: The Dilemma of Contemporary Practice,   ISBN:9781568982854

Customer Rating: 

I was excited to read an investigation into the ethical dilemnas surrounding changing our environment through building, but instead got a dime store review of philosophical positions and how one might make a decision using those positions. That coupled with non-committal statements about buildings such as the Guggenheim in New York - how can one reconcile their admiration for the building with the knowledge that it doesn't function as well as it could- left me wondering if the whole point was that ethics is a personal choice based on experience, personal preference, beliefs and values. While, that may be true and is surely fine conversation over a drink at the local pub, it's kind of weak for [$$$]and 200+ pages.

I found myself pondering my positions on the case studies presented and wondering if Spector's arguments might sway me, but there were never any arguments, just possible positions, permutations and effects. Spector quotes from "Utilitarianism and Beyond"

"It can be argued that rational choice base on an incomplete ordering requires only that a not inferior alternative be picked. This would have required Buridan's...to pick either haystack, but not neither, which was clearly an inferior alternative."

By choosing to not take any position, the author falls into his own "inferior alternative". After all, we all make value judgements and decisions each day that form the basis of our own personal ethics, but none of us need to buy a book to tell us that.

Customer Rating: 

A very serious aproach to the core of the most basic questions about the architectural profession. A book that openes many questions that architects should ask themselves more than we do today if we want to gain back credibility which our profession lost somewhere in the recent past. This will be a hard job to do and this book is a good start for everyone.